Pharmaceutical companies spent $4.5 billion on advertising prescription medications in the U.S. in 2014, up 18% from the prior year, according to data from WPP research firm Kantar Media.

Television accounted for the bulk of prescription drug ad spending last year at $2.8 billion, followed by magazines at $1.4 billion. Prescription medications were the biggest category for magazine ads in 2014, per Kantar Media’s data.

Pharmaceutical ad spending has been accelerating over the past 18 to 24 months, primarily driven by new marketing launches for drugs that have recently achieved Food and Drug Administration approval or are being marketed to consumers for the first time, said Kantar Media North America Chief Research Officer Jon Swallen. The media channels that tend to have the biggest exposure to the pharmaceutical category are those that tend to have an older audience, he added.

The AMA’s move comes amid heightened public attention around the rising costs of prescription drugs. The AMA argues that the proliferation of prescription drug ads result in higher healthcare costs because it prompts patients to choose brand-name medicines as opposed to cheaper generic alternatives that have been shown to be clinically effective. The U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries that permit direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

“[Tuesday’s] vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices,” said AMA Board Chair-elect Patrice A. Harris, in a statement.

“Direct-to-consumer advertising also inflates demand for new and more expensive drugs, even when these drugs may not be appropriate.”

The newly adopted policies will drive the AMA’s advocacy agenda, and a strategy to advance the ad ban policy is under development, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Legislation would need to be passed by Congress to ban direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs and the issue would likely raise questions about potential First Amendment violations. Efforts to sharply restrict direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs have been defeated by Congress in the past.

Still, the advertising of prescription drugs remains a heavily regulated area by the FDA. Drug makers must include lengthy disclosures about the risks and potential side effects of their products in their ads and face hefty penalties if they fail to do so.

“Prescription drug advertising provides very substantial information to the public on issues of great interest to them, things that may have saved their life or greatly enhanced their life,” said Dan Jaffe, group executive vice president of government relations for the Association of National Advertisers, a trade group representing marketers.

Mr. Jaffe said the ANA “strongly opposes” the AMA’s proposal to ban all prescription drug advertising and said the group will meet with its members in the coming days for input on the issue.

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The number of paid online media subscriptions—for content including videos, music, games, and news—is rising steadily, with approximately 580 million subscriptions and about 350 million subscribers this year, according to Deloitte Global. By the end of 2018, half of adults in developed countries will have at least two online-only media subscriptions, and by the end of 2020, that average will have doubled to four.

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